http://mmajunkie.comWith no tournament action slated for tonight’s Bellator 28, an eliminator for a spot in next season’s lightweight brackets took center stage.

The action went down at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans and aired live on Fox Sports Net.

In the evening’s featured bout, veteran Rich Clementi took on the greener Carey Vanier for the right to compete in Bellator’s season-four lightweight tourney, and early on, it looked like experience would trump youth.

Vanier immediately found himself in hot water when Clementi took the action to the mat and secured back control. After a mighty struggle, the former Best Buy employee freed himself of a body triangle that prevented him from turning into the UFC veteran’s guard. But when he managed to right himself moments later, he was already fending off an armbar attempt. Round one for the veteran.

Supremely confident in his ground skills, Clementi tried to take the same approach in the second frame but found himself overpowered on the way to the mat. Vanier caught a second wind and managed to maintain dominant position as Clementi struggled to reverse. The more he struggled, the more he slowed.

By the third frame, Varnier’s strength kept Clementi from mounting any type of offense. The less-experienced fighter got a little too carried away in the final frame and launched an illegal knee that opened a cut on the still downed Clementi’s brow. Surprisingly, no point was taken away and Clementi was game to continue. Right off the bat, the veteran had one last chance to catch Vanier with a guillotine as Vanier charged in for the slam, but he didn’t have the gas to complete it.

The key win puts Vanier on the board for the season-four tourney, which has yet to receive a start date.

Fellow lightweights Eric Larkin and Marcus Andrusia went last on Bellator’s Big Easy card, and they ended the night on a high-kick note. Specifically, Larkin’s high kick, which floored Andrusia in the opening exchange of the fight.

Larkin immediately pounced on Andrusia and delivered several shots overhead that made a stoppage almost inevitable, but the felled fighter managed to survive for a few moments. When Andrusia (1-1 MMA, 0-1 BFC) sat up, though, the cobwebs in his head didn’t give him the foresight to defend his neck, and Larkin (3-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) capitalized with a guillotine choke that prompted a tapout at 2:46 of the first frame.

In other action, WEC veteran Eric Schambari did not become the first fighter to stop the Panzer-like advance of UFC vet Matt Horwich. He certainly tried, though, and opened up bigger shots with a jab-and-run attack that scored frequently. But whatever he landed, Horwich ate it and kept advancing with digging kicks to the body and knees from the clinch.

After one round of keeping Horwich at bay, Schambari placed the priority on getting the fight to the ground. Problem was, the UFC veteran did not go easily. Schambari spent a lot of energy on takedowns and managed to nail a few. But Horwich managed to right himself, and continued his pursuit.

In the end, though, those takedowns proved to be the advantage on judges’ scorecards, not to mention the stinging shots he landed early in the fight. Still, two judges gave Schambari (13-2 MMA, 2-1 BFC) the fight with scores of 30-27, one judge dissented with a ruling of 29-28 for Horwich (25-16-1 MMA, 0-2 BFC).

WEC veteran Anthony Leone and Georgi Karakhanyan apparently promised to stand with each other and did nothing of the sort over three rounds of plodding mat work.

Leone (8-2 MMA, 0-1 BFC) was clearly the more polished wrestler when it came to getting the fight to the ground. But he lacked the ability to keep dominant position, and Karakhanyan repeatedly swept him. Although Karakhanyan (14-2-1 MMA, 2-1 BFC) did little damage when he had the chance, he did enough to convince all three judges he was the victor, and received unanimous scores of 29-28, 30-27, and 30-27.

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